Storage container for small articles

ABSTRACT

A storage container for small articles, such as lozenges, which container at the same time may be used as a vibrator bowl of an apparatus for issuing the articles one by one. The container is preferably made of plastic material and provided at its interior wall with a spiral or helix shaped raising track.

United States Patent [1 1 Ledoux [54] STORAGE CONTAINER FOR SMALL ARTICLES [76] inventor: Johan Ledoux, Dalwagen 47,

Dodewaard, Netherlands [22] Filed: May 11, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 142,204

[52] US. Cl. ..l98/220 BC, 206/42 [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 83/04, 865g 27/02 [58] Field of Search ..l98/40, 220 BC; 206/42;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,530,974 9/1970 Moore ..l98l220 BC 11] 3,724,647 [451 Apr. 3, 1973 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Western Electric Technical Digest No. 1, Jan. 1966.

Primary Examiner-Edward A. Sroka Attorney-Ernest A. Greenside [57] ABSTRACT A storage container for small articles, such as lozenges, which container at the same time may be used as a vibrator bowl of an apparatus for issuing the articles one by one. The container is preferably made of plastic material and provided at its interior wall with a spiral or helix shaped raising track.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures STORAGE CONTAINER FOR SMALL ARTICLES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a storage container for small articles, such as lozenges, provided witha removable cover.

In counting out a predetermined number of small articles from a supply on behalf of their sale sometimes a counting device is used. This maybe provided with a vibrator bowl, i.e. a hopper with at its interior side wall a spiral or helix shaped guide track extending upwardly towards the bowl edge. If any given quantity of articles or objects is put into the vibrator bowl and said bowl is urged into reciprocating vibrations of a predetermined frequency around its axis perpendicular to its bottom the objects are raised one by one successively in a series towards the bowl edge after which they leave said edge in a predetermined position and fall downwardly into a reception space. The counting device is provided with means for counting the falling objects and is automatically switched off after the predetermined number of articles is attained.

Such a counting device is for instance described in Applicants U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 66,825 filed Aug. 25, 1970.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As the objects for which such counting devices are preferably used screws and similar small parts may be mentioned, but also lozenges as given out by chemists shops. It is particularly to such lozenges that the present application is relative to.

Lozenges are usually kept in store in storing containers formed by glass storage pots or boxes. If a correct number of a predetermined kind of lozenges has to be sold a quantity of said lozenges is taken from the storage pot or box and thrown into the vibrator bowl of the counting device whereafter said device is switched on. After the counting has been finished the remaining portion of the lozenges in the vibrator bowl is again transferred to the storing container while the vibrator has to be cleaned. Said cleaning is important as no dust or fragments of one kind of lozenges may be mixed with other lozenges'which may be dangerous to life or would in a less serious case provide discomfort for instance to patients being allergic for certain matter.

The invention aims at facilitating the carrying out of counting-down a predetermined number of lozenges.

This is obtained by the invention in that the storage container is provided in the shape of a vibratorbowl for a counting device, having at the interior wall of the container a spiral or helix shaped raising track ending on the upper edge or in a discharge aperture in said upper edge.

Thereby the advantage is obtained that it is no longer necessary to throw the objects, for instance lozenges,

from the storing container into the vibrator bowl of the counting device and to retransfer the remaining portion of the lozenges from the vibrator bowl to the container, since the storage container may at the same timeserve as the vibrator bowl. In the case of lozenges also the cleaning of the vibrator bowl is eliminated. Thereby a considerable saving of time when counting out a predetermined number of articles is obtained so that one isled much more than up to this moment to using the counting device which presents the advantage that errors in the counted numbers are prevented. In the past in most cases the use of a counting device, if

present, was omitted for small numbers in connection with the indispensable time consuming operations.

The known vibrator bowls are manufactured from metal. If now according to the invention the storage container is used as a vibrator bowl one will need a much greater number thereof than the number used up to now so that it becomes advantageous to manufacture the vibrator bowls in mass production for instance by means of die casting. The price per piece thereby decreases considerably and as a consequence thereof also the counting devices become cheaper so that they come within reach for smaller business e.g. chemists shops.

The storage containers may be manufactured of a synthetic material which may or may not be transparent, which presents the advantages of small weight, this in connection with putting them on and taking them from the counting device, and a smooth non-corrosive interior wall. If as a further development of the inventive idea the discharge aperture for the articles is provided in a radially re-entrant portion of the side of the upper edge of the container, a discharge aperture being also provided in the cover in a projection integrally formed with the cover and complementary to the said re-entrant edge portion of the container, it is not necessary to remove the cover from the storage container when using it as a vibrator bowl on the counting devicesince the objects may leave the container through the cover aperture so that, moreover, the operations for removing and replacing the cover from and to the container respectively are eliminated. By the cover projection it is automatically obtained that both apertures, in the container and in the cover, are always lying mutually opposite.

Should a dust or air tight storage of the objects be desired then the cover aperture may be closable in a simple manner, e.g. by means of a slide being provided at the place of the projection to the outer side of the cover, or by means of a plug, stopper or a similar element. In chemists shops the storage containers for lozenges are often placed in air tight cupboards and in that case closing the containers themselves is superfluous.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is hereunder elucidated with reference to the drawing in which as an example an embodiment of a storage container according to the invention is shown.

FIG. 1 shows an elevation of a storage container manufactured from a transparant plastic.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the storage container according to FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The storage container or the vibrator bowl comprises a truncated conical lower portion 1 and an upper edge 2 projecting outwardly therefrom. Interiorly a spiral shaped raising track 3 has been provided against the wall, the starting point of said track being at the bottom of the container and the end of it being in the upper edge 2 of the container. The radius vector of the spiral increases gradually from the bottom to the upper edge.

In the embodiment shown the side of the upper edge 2 of the container, which for the rest is cylindrical, is provided with a discontinuity having a radially re-entrant portion 4. Said portion 4 is substantially perpendicular to the discharge end of the spiral shaped track 3 and in said wall portion a discharge aperture 5 for the objects has been provided. The container is closed by a cover 6 which fits around the upper edge 2 of the container and in which likewise a discontinuity has been provided in the cylindrical wall such that a projection 7 has been formed which is complementary to the discontinuity in the container edge. Said projection therefore also has a radial portion in which an aperture 8 has been provided. When placing the cover on the container the aperture 8 becomes situated opposite to the aperture 5 in the container so that the articles may be discharged through both apertures.

If the vibrator bowl is placed on the counting device, which is not shown, and said device is switched on, reciprocating vibrations are given to the vibrator bowl as shown by the double arrow 9, by which the articles in the vibrator bowl are raised along the track 3 and are discharged through the apertures 5 and 8. Thereafter they pass for instance a light beam emitted by a source of light onto a photo electric cell, by which a counting signal is given to the registration means of the counting device. If necessary a mirror surface may be provided on the vibrator bowl adjacent the apertures 5 and 8.

A slide (not shown) may be provided at the outer side of the cover 6 adjacent to the aperture 8, whereby said aperture may be closed or released respectively. It is also possible to enter a plug or stopper of plastic or rubber into the aperture 8 after use of the storage container as a vibrator bowl so that the container may be put away sealed to dust.

Other variations and modifications of the present invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art and it is intended to cover in the appendant claims all such modifications and equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. A combined package-vibrating bowl for small articles such as lozenges, comprising a container having a bottom wall and an annular side enclosing wall upstanding from said bottom wall, the inner wall surface of said enclosing wall being formed with a spiral track extending from said bottom wall to substantially the upper edge of the container terminating in a discharge opening provided in a radially re-entrant portion in the side of said container, and a cover enclosing the upper edge of the container and being similarly formed with a radial re-entrant portion complementary to the re-entrant portion of the container and with a discharge opening in alignment with the discharge opening in said container.

2. A storage container according to claim 1, wherein the container is of synthetic material.

3. A storage container according to claim 2, wherein the container is constituted of a transparent plastic material. 

1. A combined package-vibrating bowl for small articles such as lozenges, comprising a container having a bottom wall and an annular side enclosing wall upstanding from said bottom wall, the inner wall surface of said enclosing wall being formed with a spiral track extending from said bottom wall to substantially the upper edge of the container terminating in a discharge opening provided in a radially re-entrant portion in the side of said container, and a cover enclosing the upper edge of the container and being similarly formed with a radial re-entrant portion complementary to the re-entrant portion of the container and with a discharge opening in alignment with the discharge opening in said container.
 2. A storage container according to claim 1, wherein the container is of synthetic material.
 3. A storage container according to claim 2, wherein the container is constituted of a transparent plastic material. 